The Summer Season Battle Royale
by Flaming Pyre
Summary: After the introduction of the BR act in the Greater Republic of East Asia, the Program has been making its way into the western world, choosing random high school classes to fight to the death. This season, the fifty students of class L will have no more than 72 hours to kill one another until one remains. Friendships will be made and betrayed, and only one will leave alive.
1. Class L

"Hell yes, school trip!" The obnoxious voices of class L filled the air as their teacher, Ms Parkson, desperately tried to rein them in. She had only taken over the role of their class teacher less than a month ago, and the class hadn't taken kindly to their new teacher.

"Yet again, miss, I apologise for the rest of the class being one massive asshole." Becka said flatly as she watched the entire class, bar herself, Anna and Ms Parkson, descend into absolute chaos.

"You'd have thought they had never heard of a school trip before." Anna mused, swiftly dodging a flying pen that lodged itself into the wall behind her.

"Are you alright?" Ms Parkson asked, her voice full of concern. If there was one thing she was adamant about, it was the safety of her students.

"Fine," Anna replied, "Just be grateful we don't write with machetes."

* * *

"Look, you gonna give me another hit, or what?" Robyn hissed harshly to Nicola and Ryan as they all shared the same joint of cannabis.

"Fine, here it is," Ryan said in an overtly exaggerated tone, "Just don't get your panties in a bunch. I know you're saving them for Neil." Robyn's face flushed, and she spluttered out smoke, dropping the precious roll to the floor.

"How the hell do you know?"

"Come on," Nicola teased, "It's obvious. You're practically having an orgasm every time he's around you."

"What's all the noise about?" The three of them frantically turned their heads around, to see a figure emerging from around the corner of the school building. Ryan breathed a visible sigh of relief as Neil's form came into view.

"Speak of the devil." Nicola whispered to Robyn, as her face went as red as her dyed hair. It was true, she had the hots from hell for this guy. Perfect build, not fat, not thin, not bulging with muscles, but not a spindly whimp, and that shiny dark hair, combined with his bright green eyes; Neil was as close to a perfect specimen of the male gender as you could get, at least in Robyn's mind.

"What do you want?" Ryan asked as he put his lighter away, just in case.

"Just delivering a message from her royal bitchiness; we're about to leave on the trip, and we need to be registered as partaking."

"Whoa man, you're actually going on that shit-fest?" Nicola said brashly, moving a loose strand of her greasy brown hair from her face.

"Well, yeah," Robyn cut in, "I mean, three days away from everyone else, in a camping lodge close to the beach, it's perfect to get high off my ass whenever I want to. And," A mischievous grin spear on her face, "Imagine how many guys I'd be able to screw."

"Robyn, you filthy slut." Ryan said, grinning madly as he fiddled with the lighter from inside his pocket. "Well, have fun."

"So you're not going?" Robyn's voice deflated slightly as she said that.

"Nah, I'm just gonna coop myself up in my house for the three days; Carter managed to get a hold of some more acid."

"Sweet, bro." Neil smiled at his friend, before turning to Robyn, "Come on, we have to go now if we don't wanna hike there."

"Fine." Robyn sighed, before pulling out a breath mint. She didn't need her teacher knowing that she skipped class just to get her quick fix. She shoved the candy in her mouth, and waved to her two stoner friends as she began to walk away.

"Wait!" Ryan called out, and Robyn and Neil stopped. Ryan reached into his jacket, and pulled out a cardboard sleeve, passing it to Robyn. Inside were ten vacuum packed lighters. "This should last you the three days. And an extra few, if you ever get the urge to burn down the cabins or anything." He let out a slight chuckle as Robyn placed the lighters in the handbag that she carried around with her everywhere.

"So," Neil said, "I guess I'll see you guys Monday."

* * *

The incessant clacking of a keyboard on one of the computers inside class L's classroom was loud enough to rival the cacophony created by the majority of the students. That, combined with the cheering, allowed Robyn and Neil to enter unnoticed. They slunk across to the far end of the classroom, and Robyn leapt onto one of the tables, perching on the edge as she idly traced patterns with her finger in a tub of papier maché.

"Damn it, I was so close to reaching level up!" Thomas slammed his face onto the desk as the 'Game Over' screen flashed mockingly at him. Jimmy and Rob sat either side of the hardcore gamer, saying nothing as Thomas' rage boiled over. "I swear the fuckers who made this game did it intentionally so that nobody can win!" Jimmy nodded with Thomas' words, whilst Rob remained motionless. He had actually completed that game three months ago, back when it was only the unstable Chinese prototype, but he wasn't one to brag to his friends about his blatant success; he just didn't roll that way. And having a psychological illness that made it virtually impossible to properly socialise, Rob was glad for the few friends he did have, and he wasn't about to let something so trivial as a video game compromise their relationship.

* * *

"What?!" The unearthly screech burst from Sophie's lips as she stared at her phone's screen. This was the fifth text message break up she had received this week. This latest one was identical to the one she had received on Tuesday.

"WE R THRU U DAMN WHORE" Each capitalised word seemed to pierce Sophie's heart even more, until it was so unbearable that she threw her phone out of her hand, the expensive communication device shattering on the floor. Good riddance.

"What happened?" Sophie's best friend, and captian of the swimming team, Annabelle, was quick to approach her, and wrap a comforting arm around her. Saying nothing, Sophie just pointed at the shattered phone on the floor, before sobbing.

"Who was it this time?" Annabelle sighed. It had become customary that every day, she had to comfort Sophie after every rejection.

"Lewis," Sophie whipped her head around to face her classmate, who was currently being disciplined for having a bottle of vodka, "He just this minute decided to go for Lucy."

"Sophie, you and I both know that that bitch isn't good enough for him. He'll be begging on his knees for you in about a week." She smiled the same infectious smile she used whenever one of her friends, which made up a clique better known as the Heart Breakers, even though it was their hearts that were being broken most of the time, were facing a rejection or break up. Seeing this grin, Sophie's spirits seemed to rise instantly.

"And if it makes you feel better," Annabelle said malevolently, "We might be able to organise an accident for that boyfriend stealing slut."

* * *

"No way, I never would have thought _they_ would end up together!" Alexis exclaimed to her fellow members of the book club, Amy, Chelsea, Isabelle, and Grace. The five of them sat in the corner of the classroom, each reading a copy of the latest novel in their favourite romance series.

"I know," Chelsea replied with equal enthusiasm, "The whole time it was hinted that Claire would choose Doug, not Kyle!"

"But that's what makes this book so irresistable," Grace added, "It's so delightfully unexpected."

* * *

"Oh, so X _does_ equal B over A," Gai said to Alex, who was currently giving him math tuition. Gai scribbled down the next equation, whilst Alex lifted his slightly too large glasses back up into position.

"Hey, Gai," Alex said, "I have to go for a moment. If you're stuck," He motioned to the text book, "The help section is on page 340."

"Thanks." Gai said with a smile, and Alex walked off to join his other friends, Becka, Anna, and Jay, as Ms Parkson began to address the class.

"Attention, class L," She began, all but one group of students, dubbed the Party Animals by their peers, at least pretending to listen. "I said, attention, class L." She raised her voice, and the Party Animals turned their attention to the blonde woman. It was by far the largest group of students in class L, consisting of twenty two of the students; Nat, Kai, James, Miles, Kieran, Will, Josh, Martin, Lewis, Ben, Cameron, Sam, Dylan, Paige, Chloe, Caitlyn, Ellie, Amy, Lucy, Mary, Jess, and Beth.

"So, as I was saying," Ms Parkson continued, "The bus is ready for us outside, but there has been a delay due to heavy road works on the main route, meaning we'll take longer to get there, arriving at around midnight." Anna listened attentively, paying attention to everything her teacher said, and noticing the very brief drop in her composure. It returned as quickly as it had left, and Ms Parkson resumed speaking.

"Another message from the school is that you guys have to remain in your uniform until we arrive, so we can easily identify you." Becka, too, noticed something other than happiness in Ms Parkson's eyes, but paid it no attention.

"So, if we could just orderly make our way outside, to the-" She was cut off by a stampede of nearly fifty students as they burst out of the doors, leaving herself, Becka, Anna, and Alex standing there.

"Come on you guys, we'd better get a seat _before_ the others decide to take the bus on a joy ride." Ms Parkson said to the remaining students, and Anna and Alex walked out of the door, leaving Becka.

"Um, miss," She began as she picked up her bag, "Are you alright?" Taken aback by this question for a moment, Ms Parkson paused as she thought of an answer.

"I'm fine, Becka," She said, her voice pained, "I just have a really bad headache, is all."

"Okay then," Becka replied, relieved that her teacher was alright, "I'll see you on the bus, then." Becka turned, and walked out of the door. The door slowly closed due to the slight breeze that came through the smashed window, caused by Ellie two days ago. Ms Parkson walked over to her desk, and with a heavy heart, picked up a black clipboard, with a stack of papers attached to it. She looked at the cover, and sighed.

"If only you guys had given me more reason to hate you." She wiped a tear from her eye, and walked out of the door, reading the files on the clipboard.

_BATTLE ROYALE_

_CLASS L_

_PARTICIPANTS_

_BOYS_

_#1 Matt_

_#2 Tommy_

_#3 Nat_

_#4 Zach_

_#5 Jimmy_

_#6 Kai_

_#7 Rob_

_#8 Gai_

_#9 Thomas_

_#10 James_

_#11 Markus_

_#12 Miles_

_#13 Neil_

_#14 Kieran_

_#15 Will_

_#16 Michael_

_#17 Alex_

_#18 Josh_

_#19 Martin_

_#20 Lewis_

_#21 Ben_

_#22 Cameron_

_#23 Sam _

_#24 Pete_

_#25 Dylan_

_GIRLS_

_#1 Paige_

_#2 Chloe_

_#3 Delia_

_#4 Anna_

_#5 Hollie_

_#6 Becka_

_#7 Laurie_

_#8 Robyn_

_#9 Marianne_

_#10 Sophie_

_#11 Annie_

_#12 Lidia_

_#13 Annabelle_

_#14 Caitlyn_

_#15 Ellie_

_#16 Amy_

_#17 Chelsea_

_#18 Lucy_

_#19 Mary_

_#20 Jess_

_#21 Alexis_

_#22 Beth_

_#23 Grace_

_#24 Isabelle_

_#25 Jay_

* * *

Hours remaining: 72

Students remaining: 50


	2. The Trip

Alexis fastened her seatbelt as Grace sat next to her on the bus. They had arrived first, and had managed to bag the front seats, successfully saving them the grief of having to tolerate the wild ways of the Party Animals.

"So, Alexis," Grace said as she strapped her seatbelt, "What're you gonna do on the trip?"

"Well," Alexis began with a smile, "I was planning on taking advantage of the scenery to boost my art grade."

"Oh Alexis, you're always one to put your grades first." Grace stopped as she let out another chuckle, "Face it. You're a straight B student, not one of those perfectionist straight A's."

"You're right," Alexis said, defeated, "But having ambition never hurts."

Their conversation was cut off by the sound of half a hundred voices filling the air. Alexis looked out of the window, and saw her classmates as they boarded the bus. Looking down the queue that had seemingly formed, Alexis' spirits dropped. The entire group of the Party Animals was going on this trip.

"Well, this'll be the ride from hell." She mused as she opened her bag, pulling out a book, unaware of the realistic truth in her phrase.

Grace, however, looked on as her classmates boarded the bus. _Better to know who I'll be stuck with._ The first person to arrive was James. He was a member of the Party Animals, albeit on the outer fringes, due to his background. He came from a long line of farmers, and most of his spare time was devoted to helping on the farm. He paid no attention to the dark haired girl, and just darted up the aisle, to the back row of seats. It was some unspoken rule that the further back on the bus you decided to sit correlated with a lack of intelligence; those on the back row essentially had brains as mere accessories for their skull.

The next person to board was Annie. She was the leader of the Heart Breakers clique, and despite her reputation, she wasn't that bad. Back in their first year of high school, Annie and Grace had been on good terms with one another, having grown up in the same general area. Even though they had drifted apart over the years, Annie still had no qualms about Grace joining any activities the Heart Breakers had planned; she always invited her to the wild birthday parties that they threw. Despite the fact that Grace always declined, she appreciated the offer. She would have gone, too, if it weren't for the fact that all twenty two members of the Party Animals were invited as well. Annie smiled at Grace, before heading further up the back of the bus, stopping at the half way point, pulling out her phone.

Following Annie, five more members of the Party animals piled onto the bus; Lewis, Will, Cameron, Sam, and Ben. Mentally, they were more or less the same person; sports freaks who had fucked with each Heart Breaker at least once. Physically, they were somewhat easier to distinguish. Lewis was essentially all muscle, with a dented face full of scars from countless drunken fights. Sam fitted one of the hot guy clichés; he was tall, muscular, and blonde. Begrudgingly, Grace had to admit she had once been crushing on him, two years ago. Cameron was tall, with eternally greasy black hair. He was built more like a runner than the others, making him physically less attractive than the others. But he had one thing the other guys didn't have; bright green eyes that practically made every Heart Breaker and female Party Animal swoon every time he blinked. Will was classed as the hottest of the bunch, according to his favourite sex buddy, Beth. He was slightly tall, not too tall, had a tan that never faded, but what really got most of the females from class L was his accent. He was actually an Australian immigrant, his family leaving the country after his cousin was arrested for murder and put in prison for life, the trauma being too much for them to handle. He was quite withdrawn about the subject, but besides that, he was extremely outgoing.

And lastly, there was Ben. Better known as Bi Ben by the less intelligent students. He was bisexual, something of a rarity, especially with the crowd he was in due to the stigmas, and damn proud of it. His drive and spirit were something to be admired, but he was still a Party Animal at heart, being one of the founding members. And despite his small size, he was known to be able to cripple anyone without messing a single strand of his caramel coloured hair. Grace watched them disappear to the back of the bus, and looked as another influx of Party Animals boarded.

As the final Party Animal, Chloe, made her way to the back area of the bus, Grace sighed. For ten minutes she had been watching the same personalities in different bodies just come and go; it was numbing her brain.

Finally, someone else boarded the bus, and Grace grinned widely as Amy and Isabelle sat in the seats behind them.

"Grace, Alexis!" Isabelle cried out cheerfully, "Are you excited for the trip, because I know I am!" Isabelle let out a laugh, and Alexis put her book back in her bag.

"Yeah, I am." Alexis said, pushing a few stray strands of her wiry brown hair out of her face. "What about you, Amy?"

"Me?" Amy responded quietly, "I don't know. Part of me wants to get there and never leave, yet the other part regrets getting on this bus in the first place."

"Amy," Grace said, "Let's try and go a whole day with no pessimistic thoughts, shall we?" If there was one thing Grace _didn't_ need happening on this trip was Amy going into another breakdown. She had extreme anxiety, having to take pills every other hour. They all remembered the time last year when Amy had broken down all too well; she had been screaming at hallucinations, and had actually gouged her French teacher's eye out. It was terrifying, to say the least.

The hissing sound of the bus' doors closing brought the four friends' attention to Ms Parkson, who was standing at the front of the bus as Chelsea sat down behind Isabelle.

"Attention, class L." She began, mirroring what she said in the classroom, except this time, there would be no stampede to cut her off. Grace sighed, and pulled out her headphones. She shuffled her playlist, before finally finding her favourite song.

_I threw a wish in the well,_

_Don't ask me, I'll never tell_

_I looked to you as it fell,_

_And now you're in my way._

Grace quietly sang along to the song as Ms Parkson continued her speech, moving her head in time with the beat.

"Okay, so here's the overview of the rules; remain in your uniform until we mark you down as having arrived, no disturbing others that may be using the facilities, keep civilised, and most importantly, set a good example for the school."

"Good example, my ass." The voice of Lucy immediately filled the brief silence, causing Amy, Alexis and Isabelle to turn their heads. If bitchiness was an olympic sport, Lucy would have won gold in every event. Besides this, she was also the class whore; having slept with more boys than the entirety of the Heart Breakers clique combined. "If the school was aiming for good impressions, they wouldn't have selected _this_ class, now would they?" And intelligent. Highly intelligent. In fact, the school would have gone as far as saying she was a natural genius; she had the highest grade average the school had seen for years.

"Well, that's true, but we don't want to make this trip the only one the school will be able to do; think of the younger kids in the school." Ms Parkson tried to reason, but the spray-tanned girl just waved a dismissive hand, and slumped into her seat.

"I'm only going on this trip because my dad's the school counsellor, and he pulled some strings to get me to go for free."

"If that's all, I think we can now just sit back and relax for the ride." Ms Parkson said eagerly, and sat on the front row, across from Alexis and Grace. She nodded at the bus driver, and he revved up the vehicle, and they slowly drove out of the school, unaware that out of the fifty two passengers, only three would ever see the school again.

The bus picked up pace as it hit the freeway, and the students began to freely move about the bus. The sound of fifty different voices was soon competing against the obnoxiously loud music that burst from the back row, and Grace eventually gave up on listening to her music, slamming her headphones into her bag.

"Why the hell are people so loud?" Isabelle complained as the Party Animals ran up and down the bus, screaming and shouting. She looked to Ms Parkson, who was reading over a clipboard full of files; probably the outlines for the trip. They sure had done a lot of planning by the looks of it, which was quite odd, considering everyone knew the class would tear the place to shreds within minutes of being there. Isabelle let out a yawn, and looked out of the window at the large hills that they were pulling off to drive up. Wherever this place was, it sure was far away from everything else. Well, considering the destructive capabilities of class L, it was a blessing that they were as far away from civilisation as possible. Yawning again, Isabelle adjusted herself so her head was laying against the window, and shut her eyes, to catch some more sleep before spending the next three days with her classmates doing nothing but causing complete chaos and disruption.

Isabelle woke a few hours later, and rubbed her eyes as she rotated her neck to remove the stiffness. The sun had nearly vanished behind the horizon, and her classmates were still exactly the same as they had been a few hours before. _Don't they ever get tired?_ Isabelle thought to herself as the smell of alcohol reached her nose. Of course they would be getting drunk off their asses on a bus. She was honestly surprised it had taken them this long to actually get to doing it. The odd thing about the whole situation was that Ms Parkson wasn't doing anything about their wild behaviour when she normally would be. Instead, she was still fixated on the clipboard. _Shouldn't she have read them already? _Upon closer inspection, Isabelle found that Ms Parkson actually _wasn't_ reading it; she was just absently flitting through the pages every now and then.

"Isabelle," The sound of Amy's voice caught her by surprise, and she turned to face her wide eyed, auburn haired friend, "It's getting dark."

"I can see that," Isabelle replied calmly, looking at Amy's terrified expression, "And there's nothing to be afraid of."

"I know," Amy trailed off, glancing out of the window on the other side of the bus, "It's just that the darkness is full of uncertainty, and I like to be able to know what's happening; darkness covers everything in shadows, preventing us from seeing the whole picture."

"A very, er," Isabelle paused for a moment, "Poetic way of describing your fears."

"Thanks." Amy replied, rubbing her eyes. "One of my goals in life _is_ to be an author, so I'm glad you think that."

"You're welcome then." Isabelle awkwardly said. Amy could change the conversation around so quickly some times that it left her friends' heads spinning as they struggled to stay on topic.

As Amy smiled at Isabelle, something caught her eye. Ms Parkson was pulling something out of her bag. She looked closer, and felt her heart rate increase as she saw what it was. A gas mask. No, not like Mortie. As the memory of her hallucination returned, Amy's breathing began to grow heavier. The gas mask could only mean one thing to Amy. Ms Parkson was going to gas them, like Mortie did. She couldn't let that happen. Ripping her seatbelt off, Amy leapt across Isabelle, who sat there, startled, as the smaller girl burst out from the seating area. Several heads turned to face the crazed girl, who made a run for their class teacher. That is, until the gas burst out from the air conditioning vents.

Amy screamed as the brightly coloured mist began to close in on her. She was too late; they were all going to be gassed, and Mortie was going to get his way. A wretched sob burst from Amy's mouth as she curled up on the floor, unaware that the rest of class L were dropping like flies. As their friends succumbed to the sleeping gas, several students also jumped out of their seats, some screaming, some clawing at the windows. But they began to hyperventilate, even more gas getting into their system, and one by one, they all fell to the floor.

The gas hadn't reached the floor yet, and Amy looked up, horrified, as she watched Isabelle, Grace, and Alexis fall into a sleeping slump. No, Mortie had gotten her best friends. Some students had taken to holding their breath, but Amy knew they couldn't hold on forever. She had to get out.

She got up from the fetal position, and into the crawling one, and began to slowly inch her way forward, trying her hardest to ignore the slumping sounds of students losing their battle with consciousness. _Try to ignore it, Amy, Mortie is doing this to try and break you, and we won't let that happen_, she told herself as she reached the front row. She was so close to the exit, and driven by the determination to get out from the death trap, Amy picked up pace, failing to notice the pressure triggered vent that she had just placed her hand on.

A wail burst from the only student left awake as the gas burned her lungs. Instantly her thoughts began to blur, and Amy could feel herself swaying. Tears flowed down her pale cheeks as the realisation that her hallucination had won hit her.

"Look," Amy's eyes widened as the voice filled her head. Mortie was talking to her again. "It seems you failed to escape me this time." Every syllable he made drove more and more fear into Amy's body. As her vision failed, Amy began to swat at the air, until the panic reached its peak. She screamed, and took in a deep breath, filling her lungs with enough gas to knock her out. Everything swirled and blurred, and Amy held her head, before everything darkened. She swayed once more, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious, her final thoughts being despair that she had failed to stop her gas crazy inner demon from gassing everyone to death.

When she would finally wake up, Amy would be wishing that the gas _had_ killed them all instantly.

* * *

Hours remaining: 72

Students remaining: 50


	3. The Game Begins

Ben's eyes slowly fluttered open, the world around him beginning to take form. What had happened? He tried to remember, but his memory seemed to have stopped working after he had boarded the bus. He remembered Lewis passing around some booze, and refusing it, saying it'd be more fun to drink when they were there. Then after that, nothing.

He blinked once more, and everything came into view. Ben looked around, and took in his surroundings. The massive chalk board, the crude drawings on the walls; he was in some classroom. It was also dark. Very dark. Faint streams of moonlight shimmered through the window on the other side of the room, illuminating the room enough for Ben to see that he was surrounded by his classmates. They were all sat at similar looking desks, each student differing in levels of consciousness. Panic began to creep into Ben's body. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, but he wasn't sure what.

"Man, why the fuck is my head spinning?" The sound of a familiar voice calmed Ben down slightly. He turned around to see Miles standing up, rubbing his eyes groggily. "Ben? Where the hell are we?" Upon hearing the question, the realisation sunk into Ben's head; he had no idea where they were. All he could establish was that they were in a large classroom, but that was about it. And for some unknown reason, the feeling of panic was rising rapidly with every intake of air.

"Miles," Ben began, his voice shaky, "I have no idea where we are."

"What?!" A different voice cried out as the sound of several bodies moving filled the ominous silence.

"Where are we?!"

"Amy, keep calm!"

"Grace, you stood on my foot!"

"Damn it Neil!"

"The fuck?!"

The increasing cacophony of the distressed voices of the students was quickly cut off by light flowing into the room. Ben rubbed his eyes as he tried to adjust to the light, and looked around at his now clearer surroundings.

They were definitely in a classroom, and a derelict one at that. The faded yellow paint on the walls was cracked, flaking off, giving the illusion that the entire building was on the verge of falling apart. In one corner of the room was a large set of double doors, and on the other side was the rest of class L, who had almost collectively gathered into the smallest corner possible, all cowering in fear at something that Ben failed to see. He took another glance around the room, and found nothing of particular concern; his English classroom was in a worse state of disrepair. Then, he heard it.

It was as if an earthquake had struck; the sound of the pounding footsteps was that loud. It increased in volume and intensity, and Ben realised that it was heading towards the door of the classroom. Panicking, he slowly inched backwards, joining the collective mesh of his fellow classmates, and held his breath as the stomping became incredibly loud, then stopped. Just like that, as if it was never there. Maybe he imagined it? Yeah, sounded about right; the stress of this confusing situation was getting to him. Sighing in relief, Ben took a tenative step forward, and let out a yelp in horror as the double doors swung open.

About half a dozen soldiers marched into the room, armed to the teeth, equipped with several weapons. That alone was enough cause for Ben to feel fear. But what caused his jaw to drop was the figure that followed the terrifying well-built men.

With heavy feet, Ms Parkson trudged through the doorway, her head facing downwards as she pulled a wheeled table through the doors and into the room, a large television sitting on the top of it. She crossed the room to the other side, and a soldier took the television, plugging it in. Sighing, and wiping a stray tear from her face, Ms Parkson looked up, and addressed the class.

"Attention class L, attention," The entire room went so silent that Ben could hear his rapidly increasing heart rate. He wiped the slight amount of sweat that had broken out on his forehead, and returned his attention to his teacher, "I have to congratulate you all for winning the highest acheivement possible for youths your age." Acheivement? As in prize? Ben relaxed a little, and could see several other members of the class doing the same.

"You have all been selected to compete in this season's Battle Royale." Ben felt the panic rising. The way she had said that sentence sent chills running along the entire length of his body. It felt ominous; Ben could tell something was wrong, but not to the extent he was about to find out.

"Now, before you begin to ask any questions, we have prepared a film for you all to see, which will give out the details of the Battle Royale." Silently, she nodded to the soldier who had hooked up the television, and he fed a disc into the monitor, and turned the screen on. After a brief moment of black and white static lining the screen, it switched to a young woman dressed in camouflage themed clothing.

"Hello, class L, and congratulations!" The entire class fell even more silent than they already were as they stood, fixated, watching the woman on the screen, Ben included. "Your class has been selected by impartial lottery to compete in this season's Battle Royale!" She was essentially repeating Ms Parkson's words, but in a more peppy tone.

"What is a Battle Royale, you ask? Well, let me explain!" Ben began to listen intently to the next part of the video. "As some of you may be aware, over the past decade, the behaviour of the youth population has gone beyond bad; the majority of criminal offenders now being between the ages of thirteen and twenty one. At first, we thought it was some sort of generational phase, but it kept being carried on to the next generations. The government needed a solution to the problem, and that was how the BR, or Battle Royale, act came into being." Wait. So this was due to the kids of today screwing up? This didn't make sense to Ben at all. "Now that the history lesson's over, let's go over the details of the Battle Royale!"

"First off, you have all been taken to an abandoned island, with the most wonderful of tropical climates! But this isn't a leisurely vacation, no, you all have a much more important task to complete!" A task? Something about that statement seemed extremely foreboding. Swallowing his fear, Ben listened closely as the woman continued.

"Class L, your task is a simple one; to kill one another until one remains!" Ben's eyes widened, and his breathing became shallow. No, this couldn't be true. He had heard rumours of a sick program that killed off kids, but he had assumed it to be nothing but scare tactics to keep them in school. A wave of dizziness washed over Ben, and he heard several people scream. They were going to have to kill one another. Ben's head stopped spinning, and he looked over at his classmates. How many of them could he really kill? Those who had bullied him for being bisexual? No, that was years ago! A tear escaped Ben's eye as the realisation that he wouldn't be able to kill them set in. But how many of them were going to try and kill _him_? Those who were bigoted and homophobic?

The sudden realisation that he had been seeing which of his classmates would be potential killers made Ben feel sick. He covered his mouth with his hands as he began to gag. Luckily, nothing came out. But he wasn't going to risk spewing his lunch everywhere.

"Now, for the details!" The woman spoke up again, and Ben watched as she pulled out a large bag. "When you leave the classroom, you will each be given a bag containing three days' worth of food and water, a map of the island, a compass, and most importantly," She pulled out another bag, setting it on the side. She then reached into the first bag, pulling out the previously mentioned equipment, before grabbing something that terrified Ben. A sawn off shotgun. "A randomly assigned weapon! These were assigned to your student number _before_ we knew who was going to be competing, so this should mean everyone will get an equal shot at winning!" The bile began to rise again as Ben's mind comprehended this sickening development, and another part of his brain was wondering what type of weapon he'd get. His eyes widened as the thought consumed him. He shook his head in a vain attempt to remove the bad thought, and redirected his attention to the screen.

"So luck will play a part in your weapon, students! That first bag was really lucky, but this next one," She reached into the second bag, and pulled out a small bubble wand, "Is really unlucky!" So luck played a part in this. Ben hoped the more dangerous members of the class wouldn't get lucky, or they'd all be screwed. "But don't worry students, if you see someone else with a better weapon than you, simply kill them and take their equipment! After all, there are no rules when it comes to killing, but there are some more rules for the playing field." She unzipped her jacket, and revealed her neck. Wrapped around it was a shining metal collar with a blinking light on it.

"Now, I'm sure some of you will have noticed your collars. If not, then now's the time to find out!" Instinctively, Ben moved his hand to his neck, and felt cold, hard metal. A collar. "What is the purpose of the collars? Well, let me tell you!"

"These collars function as vital sign monitors; they'll transmit a signal to us if you die. They are also impervious to water, and electricity, meaning that they cannot be removed until the Program is over. But if you do try to remove your collar..." Footage from what Ben guessed to be a previous version of the Program played on the screen. A girl with burns all over her face was screaming, and pulling at the collar. A blinking red light appeared, which increased in frequency, until it stopped for a brief moment. Then, the collar exploded, taking the girl's head with it. "Boom! Your collar's hidden explosives detonate, and you lose your head! But that isn't a fun way to die, so be sure to fight properly!" The camera switched back to the desk, and the woman's collar fell off, before the screen switched to a computer simulated view of the island.

"If any of you are familiar with the Program, you will know that the playing field is split into grid squares, one random one becoming a Danger Zone every hour. For the rest of you that _don't_ know, if you get caught in the Danger Zones, your collar will explode." A collective gasp was released from class L as the true destructive capabilities of the collars were laid out. "But after several failed Programs, where the promising students have been surrounded by Danger Zones, we have come up with a new alternative!" Ben swallowed hard. Whatever this alternative was, it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Every six hours, you'll receive updates on the list of dead students in this time period. However, if a four hour time frame passes by with no deaths, one random student's collar will be detonated after the announcement, to make up for the wasted time!" Ben's body turned to ice. That meant a minimum of three students would die every six hours. One every other hour. Another scream sounded out as the other students also realised that fact. Ben avoided eye contact with them. After all, they would soon be trying to kill him.

"Oh, and one last thing you need to know; the Program has a time limit of seventy two hours, and if we don't have a winner by then, all the remaining students' collars will explode. And that would be a crying shame, so fight hard and fast!" The woman waved at the screen, before Ms Parkson switched the television off.

"Now, are there any questions?" She eyed up the class, and Ben looked at her. There were bags under her tear stained eyes; it was obvious that this was hard on her.

"Um, I have a question," All eyes turned to Chelsea, who had raised her hand into the air. Despite her appearance, dyed black hair and an overweight figure, she was one of the more respected members of the class. "What did it mean, when it said 'impartial' lottery? Does that mean that we were hand picked?"

"What it means, Chelsea, is that our high school was randomly selected, but the committee purposefully assembled their ideal cast based on the fighting power and entertainment factor. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, it does." Chelsea's voice was a trembling whisper as she faded into the whimpering crowd.

"Any more questions?" Silence responded to Ms Parkson. "Okay then, let's get this started."

The double doors opened once more, and another soldier walked through, carrying a trolley piled high with dulled green bags.

"These bags contain your survival equipment, your randomly assigned weapon, and your personal belongings." Ms Parkson explained as she grabbed the clipboard that was sitting on the top of the pile. "Now, I will read out your student number, male then female, at two minute intervals, so you will have enough time to avoid instant death. Once you have all left the building, this entire clearing will become a danger zone, so don't stay around for too long." She flipped over the first page of the clipboard, and read out the first name.

"Boy #1, Matt." The crowd parted as the tall, brown haired, boy shakily walked down the classroom. The soldier threw him one of the bags, and motioned to the double doors. Wiping the tears from his blue eyes, Matt pushed them open, and vanished as he walked through them, the doors closing. There was a chance that Ben would never see him again. After what felt like an eternity, Ms Parkson called out the next name.

"Girl #1, Paige." The bedraggled dark haired girl stumbled forward, her dark eyes alert with fear. She barely caught her bag, and slowly vanished out of sight. Ben felt warm, salty tears flow down his face. Paige was one of his closest friends; they went back more than ten years. She had always been there for him, and vice versa. It took all of Ben's willpower to not rush out there and then, and follow her out. Instead, he remained rooted to the ground as Ms Parkson called out the next name.

"Boy #2, Tommy." Ben watched, silently, as Tommy ambled down the length of the classroom. He wiped the ever present sheen of sweat from his forehead, and when the soldier threw him his bag, he managed to miss it entirely, his precious supplied falling to the floor. With a grunt, he bent over, and picked it up. He then slowly trudged through the doors, and the sound of sobbing could be heard, slowly becoming distant to the students.

"Girl #2, Chloe." Ben looked away as another student left the room, sobbing quietly as she vanished. This was wrong, this was fucked up on several levels.

"Boy #3, Nat."

"Girl #3, Delia."

"Boy #4, Zach."

"Girl #4, Anna."

Ben watched, frozen, as each of his classmates vanished behind the doors. And with every student that vanished, the horrendous thought that the next time Ben would encounter them would be when they would be trying to kill him.

"Boy #5, Jimmy." This was just sad. Ben watched as the small, frail boy struggled to hold his bag. He was severely epileptic, and someone would probably take advantage of his weakness. But, Ben reminded himself, Jimmy had to die if he had any chance of getting out alive.

"Listen to yourself," Ben silently reprimanded himself, "You're trying to assess who'll be potentially deadly. Get a grip!"

"Girl #5, Hollie." The blonde girl let out a scream, and her friend, Jess, grabbed her arm.

"Promise me you'll wait for me!" Jess shrieked. Hollie just nodded, and darted down the classroom, wailing hysterically. She caught her bag, but groaned with the effort of carrying it. Whatever her weapon was, it was heavy.

"Boy #6, Kai." Almost stoically, the normally bouncy boy walked up to the soldier, and deftly caught his bag. Then, without saying anything, pushed open the doors, and ran out.

"Girl #6, Becka." The light haired girl pushed past several students as she ran towards the soldier, seething with fury. She terrified Ben. When her bag was thrown at her, she let it fall to the floor, before glaring at Ms Parkson.

"How... How could you do this to us." She spat, before picking up her bag, and storming out of the room. Judging by her expression, Ms Parkson was extremely hurt by the remark. But she regained composure, and read out the next name.

"Boy #7, Rob."

"Girl #7, Laurie."

"Boy #8, Gai."

"Girl #8, Robyn."

"Boy #9, Thomas."

"Girl #9, Marianne." It was all the same; the students walked up to the soldiers as if their bodies were made of lead, and then begrudgingly walked out of the building. And all Ben could do was watch as the class gradually decreased in the amount of students there.

"Boy #10, James." James rushed up to the soldier, and expertly caught his bag. He pushed open the doors, and stopped for a moment. He looked over the class, then let out a laugh. A chilling, maniacal laugh that sent chills down Ben's spine. James then turned around, and vanished into the night. The mere prospect that already his classmates were becoming killers horrified Ben. This wasn't right; they were supposed to be on a school trip, not in some massive deathmatch!

"Girl #10, Sophie."

"Boy #11, Markus."

"Girl #11, Annie."

"Boy #12, Miles." Ben watched in dismay as his close friend began to walk out, towards the soldier. Suddenly, panic began to well up. He needed an ally, at least to prevent himself from going insane.

"Wait!" Ben cried out to Miles. He stopped, and turned to face the shorter boy. "When we're out there, we stick together. Alright?" Miles simply nodded, and continued down the classroom, catching his bag as he left. Ben returned to the corner of the room he had spent the last half an hour in.

"Girl #12, Lidia."

"Boy #13, Neil."

"Girl #13, Annabelle." As Annabelle vanished behind the doors, less than half of the students remained in the classroom, Ben still being one of them.

"Boy #14, Kieran."

"Girl #14, Caitlyn."

"Boy #15, Will."

"Girl #15, Ellie." More and more of them disappeared behind the double doors, and the growing apprehension that he was going to die soon filled Ben as each student walked out of the doors to their certain death.

"Boy #16, Michael."

"Girl #16, Amy." As Amy walked up, she twitched sporadically, constantly glancing around. She screamed with impossible volume as her bag was thrown at her, but she still managed to catch it. She looked around the classroom once more, before leaving, twitching all the while.

"Boy #17, Alex."

"Girl #17, Chelsea."

"Boy #18, Josh."

"Girl #18, Lucy," Lucy strode up to the front of the room, almost nonchalantly, and stuck an arm out as the soldier slid her bag onto her. She blew a kiss to him, then vanished out of the doors. She seemed to have gone off the deep end, not as much as Amy, but something had snapped inside the girl's mind.

"Boy #19, Martin."

"Girl #19, Mary."

"Boy #20, Lewis."

"Girl #20, Jess." Sobbing hysterically, Jess quickly made her way to the soldier, retrieved her bag, and ran out, her cries slowly growing distant. Each and every student leaving the room made Ben's heart sink even further. He hoped that this was all actually just some elaborate joke, but it looked too perfectly executed to be a hoax. Trembling, Ben wiped the tears from his eyes as he prepared to watch the next student leave the room.

"Boy #21, Ben." Ben's body turned to ice as his name was called. All of his senses were dulled as he found himself slowly moving along the classroom towards the soldier, his entire body rigid. As he approached the somewhat smaller pile of bags, he found a constant flow of salty tears pouring down his cheeks. He wanted to wipe them off, but fear paralysed him as he drew nearer to his certain demise. He walked past the pile of bags, and the soldier tossed one of them towards him. As if on auto pilot, Ben's arms reached out, catching the bag. He swung the heavy bag over his shoulder, and faced the double doors. He took a deep breath, and pushed them open, and walked through the doors.

Ben was now in a dark hallway, the only light source coming from the end of the hall, from the open door. A chilling breeze whipped through, and Ben could feel his breathing increasing in pace. _Calm down_, he told himself as he took a series of deep breaths. Calmed down, Ben walked down the hallway, his shoes squeaking off of the slick surface, the high pitched sound echoing throughout the building. The ominous silence was terrifying, but Ben kept it together as he reached the end off the hallway, and to the partially open door. He pushed it fully open, and stepped outside, beginning his gruelling battle for survival against his classmates.

* * *

Hours remaining: 72

Students remaining: 50


	4. Day 1- 00:00

Grace (A.K.A Girl #23) ran through the thick foliage that surrounded the building that she had just been in. Her heart was pounding, and her face was soaked, partially due to the humid climate of the island, and partly due to the tears that flowed freely down her face. She was still trying to fully understand the fact that she had been sent onto some island somewhere, and expected to kill off her fellow classmates. The mere thought of having to _hurt_ Alexis, never mind kill her, released a sob from Grace's mouth. She quickly clamped it shut as she realised that others would be out there, hunting her down.

She continued through the thick greenery, using the moon for guidance. Despite the fact it was midnight, the air was stiflingly hot, and Grace found herself tugging at her shirt every now and then. If this was what it was like at the coldest time of day, then the island would be unbearable come mid-day. Losing herself in the thought, Grace continued forward, not seeing the tree root she tripped on. She crashed to the floor, and a metallic clunking sound rang out in her bag. The randomly assigned weapon. Until now, Grace hadn't dared open the bag, for fear of the weapon driving her to kill. But it also contained her food and water, Grace craving the latter at that moment. _Maybe one look wouldn't hurt,_ she told herself as her hands flew to the zip, pulling it open. The first thing she noticed was her own bag, neatly sat in the middle. Surrounding the bag was about four bottles of water, and several packets of dried fruits. Not the most appetising of meals, but at least it was something she could stomach. But no sign of her weapon. Maybe it was like in the video, and she had received a bottle of bubble soap to fend for herself with. Knowing her luck, that was probably the case.

Grace lifted her own personal bag out of the larger one, and swung the strap around her shoulder. She also grabbed one of the bottles of water, and took a long drink, consuming half of the bottle. The cool liquid instantly refreshed her, and she placed it back in the bag, noticing the sealed air tight plastic bag. Grace lifted it out, and found her map of the island and her compass inside. She pulled the compass out, and put it around her neck, and clipped the map to the string. She was all set now, but there was still no sign of a weapon. Then, Grace noticed it.

The colour scheme blended into the colouration of the bag, but with the moon directly shining on it, Grace could make out a waist band, lined with five hand grenades. In the words of the woman on the video, she had been _really lucky_. Grace pulled it out, and put it on, lining the grenades so that they were all on her front side. A small smile crept onto Grace's face as she realised how much higher her chances of survival were now that she had potentially the most destructive weapon in the Battle Royale. But she wouldn't use them out of malice; she would use them strictly for self defence. But it would be so easy to take them all out...

Grace shuddered at the thought of going on some killing spree. She wasn't like that though, and no amount of power or fear would drive her to intentionally kill. She zipped up her larger bag, and swung it around her other shoulder, and stood up. Her first goal in this screwed up game was to find Alexis, then the other members of the book club, if they were still alive. But then what? Grace had no idea what they'd do should she rally them together. Hide away, and wait out the collars? Join forces and kill everyone else? Group suicide? The fact that she had no idea how her friends would react to the situation terrified Grace. Alexis, Chelsea and Isabelle, she could see either joining a larger alliance or hiding away, but Amy was the problem. Knowing what she was like under the smallest amounts of stress, Grace could only imagine the horrors should Amy lose it. That settled it, then. She first had to find Amy, and make sure she was still sane, then find the others.

Grace walked through the tropical forest once more, pushing back the moist leaves with her hands. This section was extremely overgrown, and Grace found herself wishing that she had taken the path that cut through. No, that would have been too risky, given how obvious it was. There was a high probability that she would have been killed instantly if she had taken the obvious route. She imagined some idiot would have taken the path, and they were probably dead by now. The thought then hit Grace. How many had died already? She had been in the Program for about half an hour now, and wasn't the first to leave the building. The sudden realisation that she might actually come across the lifeless body of one of her classmates also deeply disturbed Grace, and she could feel her heart rate increasing. But she had to keep calm; fear drove people to crazy things in the past, and now that they had to kill their classmates, it was imperative that as many people as possible kept a level head.

The sound of branches cracking under heavy footsteps made Grace freeze. She had stopped moving, but the footsteps kept going. Someone was nearby. Grace held her breath, and began to tremble, slowly sinking to the ground. She could now make out their breathing and grunting; whoever they were, they were male. Which meant that it wasn't one of her friends. She had to get out of there. Perhaps if she charged out, and caught him by surprise, she'd be able to escape. But she'd only get one shot.

Taking a deep breath, Grace looked up, and sprang forwards. She crashed through the bushes, and careened into Alex (A.K.A Boy #17). Both let out a scream as they tumbled down a slight hill, crashing onto the dirt path. Alex looked up, startled, at Grace, who was quickly scrambling to her feet, panting. Without looking back, Grace darted across the path, and back into the foliage, unaware that one of her grenades had fallen off. Alex stood up, his back hurting. Grace had managed to bruise him at worst. He took a step forward, and noticed the grenade. Swiftly and silently, Alex bent down and picked it up, placing the explosive in his bag, and ran off in the opposite direction to his classmate.

Grace finally stopped, out of breath, and shaking from the rush of adrenaline. It was just Alex, thankfully, but she had no way of telling. A feeling of guilt rushed over Grace as she realised that she may have seriously injured her friend, but shook off the thought. For all she knew, he could be playing the game properly, and be out to kill everyone. This thought seemed to neutralise the guilt, and Grace leaned against a tree as she caught her breath.

Another thought occurred to Grace as her breath returned to her; should she go back and try to work together with Alex? She knew him fairly well enough to determine that he wasn't one to use violence straight away; in fact, he had very little physical strength, since he was more of an academic student than anything else. And besides, he might have seen one of Grace's friends. Her decision made, Grace let go of the tree, and began to walk in the direction of the path, when she realised something wasn't right. Her left hand was on her waist, near the band where her grenades were. She ran her hand along the smooth surface, and over each explosive weapon. One, two, three, four...

That was it. Only four. A cold sweat ran through Grace's body as she felt the empty slot where her grenade had once been. It must have fallen out when she crashed into Alex, meaning that it was still on the path! Any student could grab it if they felt like it, and then they'd also have the same advantage as Grace, and potentially use it to wipe out a large amount of students. She couldn't let that happen.

Grace ran forwards, eager to retrieve her explosive before someone else. She pushed through the humid greenery, one branch ramming into her face. The force of the tree limb sent Grace falling to the floor, and a small stream of blood began to flow from her nose. That had hurt badly, but Grace had her priority; to get that grenade. She leapt to her feet, and once again rushed into the foliage, when she realised that her priorities had shifted. She had gone from wanting to gather all her friends together to wanting to save her weapon. She slowed her pace as the shame filled her. She was buying into the damn Program! But her own survival came before her friends'; it was only the natural thing to do, wasn't it?

Grace broke out of the foliage, and returned to the path where, about ten minutes ago, she had crashed into Alex, and lost her grenade. There was no sight of her nerdy classmate, but there was a chance her grenade was still there. Grace ran to the spot where the collision had happened, and scanned the floor for any sign of her precious weapon. There were no signs. Alex had probably taken it after Grace had fled the scene. That meant that the next thing Grace had to do was meet up with Alex to ensure their survival, and to find her best friends; Alex was also close to them.

Grace looked away from the ground, deflated, and turned in the opposite direction that she had ran from. It was only logical that he would have ran in the completely opposite direction from her. Grace began to jog down the road, looking for signs of Alex. She followed the curve of the road, and suddenly caught movement in her peripheral vision. Before she could do anything else, Grace found herself being slammed into the ground.

She let out a scream, but an intense agony in her throat stopped the cry of terror from fully escaping her lips. Grace opened her eyes, and was met with the terrifying sight of the bloodshot blue eyes of Pete (A.K.A Boy #24). Fucking Pete. Dumpy, tubby Pete. The mere sight of him caused Grace to feel sickened on a good day, never mind when he was cutting off her circulation.

"Bastard!" She screamed at Pete, who remained where he was, sitting on her chest with his full body weight. A sadistic smile crept onto his face, showing off his buck teeth, and a small trickle of saliva running down his mouth. What the hell was he...?

Then she felt it. Pete was pressing down on her, with the one part that Grace would never dare even think existed. Something was exciting the hideous boy a little too much. He licked his fat lips, succeeding in coating them in a fine stream of drool, then loosened his grip on his randomly assigned weapon, a garrotte wire.

"Listen closely, whore, because I'll only say this once." Grace's eyes widened as he spoke with his irritating voice that seemed to make her want to forget how to hear, "Chances are, I'm gonna die. Get killed by the other kids, you know?" Grace nodded, tears bursting from her eyes, "But there's one thing I'm gonna make sure of; I'm not gonna die a virgin." A choked sob barely escaped from Grace's raw throat as she processed the information. "So here's what's gonna happen; we're going to fuck, and fuck hard, and if it's good, you live. If not..." His gaze travelled to her throat. "Let's just say, you won't leave these woods."

Pete let go of the garrotte wire, freeing the trembling Grace's throat. Now would have been a perfect time to use one of her grenades, but the fear paralysed her. She couldn't move at all.

_Get up, Grace. Blow this pervert's brains out, and run like hell!_ The thought kept hammering around Grace's mind, but her body refused to respond. So she did the only thing she could; watch as the horror unfurled in front of her.

Grace's chest felt immediate as the extremely fat figure of Pete stood up, leaving her untouched. Yet again, a prime opportunity to get the fuck out of there wasted by fear. More tears flowed down Grace's face as Pete bent over, running his pudgy hands up her skirt. She screamed, and he shot her a terrifying look.

"Look, bitch, if there's any more of that, you're not gonna live through the sex, you got that?" Grace whimpered, and nodded, the sobs silently being released through streams of tears. She shut her eyes tight as she felt Pete pull her underwear down, past her knees, and finally, off of her body. She opened them once more, and saw Pete as he tossed them into the nearby bushes.

"You'll never need 'em again, bitch."

As the sound of Pete unzipping his pants filled her ears, Grace shut her eyes, and felt as her heart rate and level of panic increased. Her shuddering increased as Pete laid his hands on her thighs, then began to thrust.

Grace's hands flew to her mouth with the pure and utter agony that the disgusting fat boy was inflicting upon her. Wave after wave of a torturous rhythm of thrusting dominated the girl's lower area, the only thing besides the pain that Grace could pick out being Pete's sadistic laughter.

"You know, for a virgin, you're not half bad. But I think this is missing something, like the other half letting me know they're enjoying it as much as me!" Like hell Grace'd ever-

"Moan for me, bitch, and talk dirty, or I'll kill you." Grace felt her spirit crumble as the intense agony went deeper inside of her. She just wanted to shut down, and do nothing but curl up, and will the world to leave her alone. But she couldn't. If she did, it was guaranteed that Pete'd kill her. She had to play along.

Swallowing her suffering, Grace let out a forced moan, followed by a sob that was quickly covered up by another moan that caused her heart to splinter as the noise was emitted.

"Good start, bitch," Pete groaned, "But I still need you to talk dirty. Tell me you want me to fuck you hard and fast." He released a hand, and punched Grace's still sore nose, causing the stream of blood to return to its regular flow, "Do it!"

"...Fuck me..." Grace whimpered, and shrieked in pain as the fist connected with her face once more. She hurt all over, and wanted to get away from here, as far away as possible.

"Like you mean it, bitch!" Pete's voice yelled at her, and Grace shrank away into her shoulders as best she could. She opened an eye, and saw Pete's arm being raised into the air.

"Fuck me!" She screamed, with an almost primal tone, "Fuck me hard, and fast! I want you inside me, all of you! Just do it!" An elated grin exploded onto Pete's face as he gazed lustfully down upon the hollow shell of a girl, her almost erotic words making him thrust harder.

Grace shut her eyes once more, and began to scream uncontrollably as the pain increased with intensity and speed. It was almost as if her insides had been turned into one of her grenades, and was on the verge of exploding. Her hands flew to the floor, fingers digging into the dirt ground as Pete let out an unholy guttural cry of sheer pleasure. Grace screamed in pain as the pain travelled even further inside her. She felt like she was about to be sick, and was on the verge of passing out, when the pain stopped.

Forcing her eyes open, Grace looked as Pete stood up, zipping his pants, removing that torture device from sight. He licked his lips, before looking down at the traumatised girl.

"Bitch, that was a good fuck. Never known anything like it." He did this to her. He violated her, took her innocence and purity that she was saving for someone special... He ruined her! And Grace wouldn't let that happen. Rage continued to bubble up inside her as she looked at the repugnant boy, until she couldn't contain it any more.

"You fucking bastard!" She screamed as she leapt to her feet with speed that caught Pete off guard. She rushed at him, and tackled the fatter boy to the floor. He let out a wheeze as he hit the dirt, and looked up at his assailant.

"What do you know, the bitch has some fight left in her. Where was all this when we were doing the good stuff?" Pete's face darkened, and he began to roll over, his weight being too much for Grace to handle. He rolled over, forcing Grace onto her stomach, crushing her arms under his beefy legs. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the garrotte wire, wrapping it around her throat, just above her collar.

"Get off of me!" She screamed as her throat began to feel highly constricted. She flailed her legs around, desperately, in a futile attempt to escape.

"Sorry, bitch, but you screwed it up with your little attempt at fighting me. Which means you failed to give me a good time." Pete tightened his grip, choking Grace even further. She could feel herself slipping, but tried to stay awake. She simply couldn't let such a disgusting specimen of the human species win this battle. But it was too much, and Grace's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she stopped breathing, her final thoughts being her memory of meeting Alexis for the first time.

* * *

_Grace sat in the corner of the massive hall, the cool glass of lemonade being the only thing keeping her sane in this school dance. She hated her mother for forcing her to go; the woman was delusional, thinking she'd be able to socialise in this environment. For a moment, everything went quiet, until the hysterical screaming of the students filled the air as the latest pop sensation began to play. The beats and the rhythm of the song pounded in Grace's head, and the sheer volume was enough to send vibrations throughout her drink. She watched as the liquid rippled, and fizzed, bubbles flowing over the top of the glass, oozing over the table._

_Sighing in frustration, Grace stood up, getting out of her seat. She had to get out; it was all too much for her. Sticking to the walls, she gradually crossed the hot, flashy room, reaching the main entrance. She pushed the door open, and slid out of the hallway, the doors swinging shut, stifling the noise and the heat. It was so cool out there, the open windows letting the evening breeze blow the heat away from Grace's body. After cooling down, Grace took off down the hallway. She couldn't leave the school until the dance was over, so she had to do the next best thing; hide away until everyone else was long gone._

_She ran down the staircase, her shoes squeaking on the slick floor as she reached the bottom level of the school. The lights were off, leaving the hallway dark, but there was a single light emanating from one of the classrooms; Grace immediately recognised it as class L. Seemed someone else from her class had the same idea. Quickly, Grace crossed the hallway, making her way to the illuminated door. She stopped in front of it, peering through the glass on the door. She couldn't see anyone, but the school wouldn't leave a light on for the sake of it._

_Cautiously, Grace pushed the door open, and crept inside, not even daring to breathe. She carefully shut the door, and turned around, taking in the empty classroom. There was still writing on the board from the last lesson of the day, and most of the chairs were overturned, reflecting the chaos that was her school. But there was no sign of another person. Feeling somewhat deflated, Grace walked through the mess of chairs, and made her way to the back of the room, sitting at the desk that was just in front of the book case. She folded her arms on the desk, and lowered her head into the make-shift pillow._

_Just as Grace was slipping into the realm of slumber, the sound of coughing snapped back into reality. She looked around, wide eyed, and saw a figure under one of the desks. So there was someone in there after all. Grace stood up, out of her seat, and walked over to the figure. She crouched down, and faced them._

_"Hey," She began, and the figure moved, "How're you?" They turned around, and removed the hood from their face. Grace instantly recognised her as Alexis, the new girl._

_"Fine," She replied, crawling out from under the desk. "You?"_

_"Okay, if it weren't for the god damn loud music upstairs."_

_"Yeah." Both girls shared a laugh, and stood up, walking over to the book case. They sat down, and spent the rest of the evening discussing their lives, hobbies, and their mutual passion of reading. It was the first time in Grace's life that she had only felt pure happiness, and nothing else. All cares were thrown out of the window as she got to know her new friend._

* * *

The spark of life left Grace's eyes, and she went limp, slumping to the floor, dead. Pete removed the garotte from her neck, and put it back in his pocket. He then stood up, and wiped the sweat from his brow. That was damn exhilarating for someone of his size, but it was good. So good. Pete looked back at the corpse of his classmate. It was almost a shame that she was gone. But what did it matter; there were twenty four other, more experienced, girls out there, all prime for the picking. But first, Pete had to loot Grace of any potential goods.

He grabbed her supplied bag, and opened it up, emptying the contents into his own. Food, water, everything of Pete's was now doubled. Everything, except weaponry. He looked over at the lifeless body of Grace. Damn bitch had her weapon on her person.

Groaning, Pete rolled Grace's body over, exposing her torso to the moonlight. He scanned her body for weaponry, and his eyes met the strap. A smile like no other crossed the grotesque boy's face as he ripped it off of her, and attached it to himself. He had managed to make his first kill the girl with one of the best weapons in the Program. An unearthly chuckle released from Pete's throat as he hoisted his now significantly heavier bag onto his shoulder, and disappeared into the dense foliage, leaving Grace's body in an eternal horrified pose.

Back in the real world, those who were foolhardy enough to place bet on the students crossed Grace's name off of their list of contestants, and circled Boy #24's name. After all, he had been the first of class L to become a murderer. And he most certainly would not be the last.

* * *

**Grace (Girl #23)- Eliminated**

Hours remaining: 71

Students remaining: 49


	5. Day 1- 01:00

James (A.K.A Boy #10) stood at the top of the hillside, looking down at the vast expanse of greenery, dimly illuminated by the moon. Judging by its position, roughly one hour had passed in the Program, and James could only begin to imagine what horrors were going on. Surely the others must have begun killing by now, because if there was one thing the blonde was certain of, it was that hardly anyone in class L was a pacifist.

The sound of the wind rustling through the leaves startled James, and he nervously glanced around, expecting to see one of his classmates, crazed and armed with a deadly weapon.

"Calm yourself, damn it." He muttered under his breath. After all, keeping cool was essential to surviving. Losing sanity in this place meant certain death, because if you _did_ lose it, and decided to play, you'd end up becoming a mindless killer, and intelligence and strength were to be equally valued in a place where your head could fall off at any given moment.

Heads falling off. Another horror brought on by this situation. That disgustingly happy woman had said something that terrified him more than the idea of his best friends trying to kill him: Random detonations. If four hours passed with absolutely nobody dying, then one random student would lose their head, via the explosive collar that was strapped to James' throat, binding him to the island for the rest of his life. How many would be dead before he died?

"No!" He snapped out loud, before looking around to see if anyone was drawn to his sudden outburst. Nobody. Good. "Can't think like that; negativity only gets you killed." And despite the fucked up nature of the situation, James still found himself wanting to get out of there, even if it meant every last one of his friends dying. But how many could he really call friend? Sure, he was in with the Party Animals, but he was on the fringes of the clique, ignored by the major members. Could he trust them? Probably not; the majority had, and flaunted, criminal records, several involving knife crimes. They were willing to kill even when they knew that it was completely illegal. And now, on an island where killing would be _encouraged_, it wouldn't be long before an island-wide bloodbath began. The though of that terrified James to the core. Perhaps if he took out all the killers, then perhaps the others could all band together and help to escape.

And unicorns were real, and could save him. James sighed, realising yet again how bleak the situation was. There was absolutely no hope for him; no hope for anyone. He wanted to cry, and curl in a ball, willing for death to take him, but he couldn't. The human will to survive was simply too strong for him to ignore.

"Fuck!" He cried softly, feeling tears balling up inside him. But he couldn't cry; the sound would attract someone. And in this place, even his closest friends were now enemies. Suddenly, before he was aware of it, his green eyes had wandered to the large, dark duffel bag that sat a little further away from him. Something was poking out of it. He wanted to ignore it, but he couldn't. Something about the shape had him fixated. If he remained distracted for too long, someone would simply come up behind him, and take him out. Dying. The thought send a deep wave of chills throughout him. And then, despite the absurd nature of it, James began to laugh. It was a strange laugh; not the usual hearty chuckle that he made when he was pissed out of his mind. No, this was much more sinister. This was the laugh of someone who was losing their mind.

Looking back at his bag, James continued to feel the urge to look in. But could he really look in? What if the weapon was a joke? Or even worse, what if it was something so powerful, that the potential to take out every last classmate took over him? He wasn't thinking rationally, he quickly decided. Relieved that he had come to a reasonable conclusion, James sighed. Only a sane person would be able to realise they were going insane. Yawning, James decided to sit down on the slightly moist grass. He hadn't slept properly for over twenty four hours, since whatever it was that had gassed him had not rested him at all. In fact, it most likely had only made him even more on the edge than normal. Not that he was normally edgy, but he now felt as if everyone was out to get him. It didn't help that he barely knew anyone in his class at all. Even though he was supposedly more social than some, nobody really stood out.

Suddenly, an odd feeling struck James. It felt as if his stomach was caving in on itself. Had someone shot him or something? It took a moment of hyperventilation, but James realised it was merely hunger pains. That was right, he had gone even longer without food than without sleep. He glanced at the bag once more. It wouldn't hurt him to get one of the bags of dried fruits, would it? No; he'd shut his eyes, and grab a bag without ever looking in.

Confident with his decision, James stood up, walking over to the bag. He bent down, slowly, and unzipped the large bag, the strange tearing sound seeming louder than normal. But it was probably just him. Yeah, it had to be. There was no way that unzipping a bag would attract a crazed killer. The bag fully unzipped, and James stuck a hand in, feeling around for a bag of fruits.

But instead, his hand touched something cold, and metallic. His randomly assigned weapon. Panicking, James shut his eyes tighter, and moved his shaking hand away from the weapon, his palms beginning to become slightly sweaty. Suddenly, the sound of a bird screeching out caught James off guard, and his eyes shot open.

"Oh shit!" He yelled, both at the sound, and at the fact that he had been foolish enough to open his eyes. For he now saw what the advisers of the Program had given him. A pump action shotgun, complete with ammunition. No, they had to be fucking with him, or they didn't know. Still, the mere sight of the awesome weapon reminded James of _that_. And here, of all places, was quite clearly not a good place to think of it.

* * *

_James happily walked out of the front door of the house, the summer sun beating down on his blonde head. The smell of freshly cut grass was in the air, and he inhaled deeply. Today was going to be a good day, he was sure of that. Walking down the dried up dirt lane from his house, James continued towards the large field at the end of the lane. Living on a farm meant that he had several fields all to himself. Well, not really himself; they were his family's, but close enough._

_BLAM!_

_The young boy snapped his head up, and looked around frantically. What was that noise? He had never heard something so terrifying in his whole life. It sounded like it came from the field. Where his father was. A wave of panic took over, and James began to breathe rapidly at the thought of his father being in trouble._

_BLAM!_

_There it was again, only this time, James didn't stop to listen. He simply ran down the lane, his eyes wide with fear, and pushed open the gate, running through the long grass, towards a figure. His father._

_"Dad! Dad!" He cried out as he ran towards the grey haired man. He leaped up at him, just as his father pressed the trigger on the gun._

_BLAM!_

_The bullets fired out, barely missing James, and a small stream of smoke came from the gun. His dad was shooting? But what was there to shoot?_

_"James?!" His father said in an agitated tone, "What the hell're you doing?!" He motioned to the gun, "You could've gotten yourself killed."_

_"Sorry," James said meekly, looking down at the floor, like he always did when he felt regret, "I just heard the noise, and thought you were in trouble. I won't do it again." As he said this, his father's expression turned from stern to soft and considerate._

_"It's alright, son," His father replied, patting him on the head, "Just remember that this gun is a powerful thing, and shouldn't be messed around with." He lightly tapped the gun, touching some writing on the barrel. The word 'Joel' was carved into it; James' father's name._

_"Dad, can I have a go?" James said, looking eagerly at the gun. It wouldn't be messing around if his father helped him do it._

_"No, son," His father said, "This thing is too powerful for you to handle. I'm sorry." And with that, he pushed James to the side, and fired another shot, the force of the weapon jerking him back._

_BLAM!_

* * *

The memory made James shudder. Out of all the things in his childhood, that was the one thing that stuck out the most. It was mostly due to the fact that as a child, James' father had let him do anything. Anything, but handle the weapon. He didn't know why he was so hung up on it, but it almost seemed to mock him from the depths of his subconscious. He wasn't capable of handling such power.

As these thoughts flew through James' head, he had managed to lift the gun out of his supply bag, and load it. He had done it without even realising it, which really set him on edge. It was almost as if his mind had gone into auto-pilot mode. That possibility caused James to shudder; about ninety minutes had passed since this game began. Had he already had a lapse in his memory, and killed someone? Was this even his supplied bag? If he had lost it, who did he kill? Hopefully, he didn't kill one of his friends, like Miles or Sam. But what if he did? He still had about five hours to go before he found out who lived and who died. But, he decided, he was probably being irrational due to fear.

But just as James began to calm himself, he felt something odd. Until this moment, he hadn't been aware of the fact that he was stroking the barrel of the shotgun out of comfort, but now he was. He felt something sticky on the barrel, and reflexively pulled his hand away. He brought the hand to his nose, and smelled something odd, like a bizarre alternate scent of rusting metal. It was this that sent a horrified chill down his spine. He had also felt a groove on the barrel; could it be?

Shaking his head at the absurd possibility, James lifted the gun up. The moonlight reflected off the barrel, and James couldn't help but let out a cry of terrror.

There, encased in blood, was a word on the barrel, a word James had hoped he'd never have to see.

_Joel_

This was his father's shotgun, now in his hands. This alone was horrific, but the fact that it was covered in blood terrified him. Obviously, to fuck up his mind, the directors of the Program demanded that his father handed over the shotgun. Of course, James imagined that his father was quick to realise what the gun was wanted for, and resisted. The blood was quite clearly his. Another thought hit James. What if his father was dead? What if they killed him? That actually terrified him more than the idea of his classmates, who he'd been together with for years, killing each other. After all, family came first.

James looked at the loaded shotgun once more, and another thought occurred to him. His father had always mentioned its immense power, and if what he said was to be believed, James could be in the possession of one of the most powerful weapons in the Program. And from looking at his ammunition supply, he had enough to take out several students efficiently.

The wind suddenly picking up brought James to his senses, and he turned a shade of red in disgust as he realised he was thinking about killing his classmates; he couldn't! He glared at the shotgun in his hands; the weapon was fucking with his head, just like they wanted it to. But by not using it, he would be proving his father wrong. There had to be some way out of this situation.

Almost straight away, the solution hit him. All he would have to do would be to kill a student who was hell-bent on killing, both resisting the ways of the Program; kill the innocent, and showing his father that he was capable of using the shotgun.

Swinging his bag's strap over his shoulder, James looked around, still holding the weapon, before running down the hill, and into the forest. He would prove to his father that he was capable, and that he wasn't going to become a crazed killer.

* * *

Laurie (A.K.A Girl #7) sat under a tree, sobbing. Her duffel bag was placed right next to her, and she was clutching her randomly assigned weapon in her hands. In the words of the woman in the video, she had been really unlucky.

A bottle of perfume. A bottle of fucking perfume. That was what she was expected to kill her classmates with. And to make matters all the worse, it was only half full, and it was that horrible type that stank, even with the lid sealed onto it. In fact, it had taken her over an hour to reassure herself that the stench wouldn't attract someone. But despite how useless it was, Laurie found herself holding it for dear life. The bottle was made of some sort of plastic, so she couldn't even break it, and use the shards of glass to fight with.

But why would she fight in the first place? Laurie was a member of the Heart Breaker clique, and was actually successful in her relationships. She was currently with Cole, a boy from another high school that was close to her own. This was odd in the first place, since all the other members of the clique had only worked within their own school, yet she was with Cole. The other odd thing about their relationship was its length. They had been together for seven months now, and the longest Heart Breaker relationship was previously only three months. So she had actually never upset anyone in class L, which meant that nobody really had any reason to kill her. That thought calmed her.

Running a hand through her brown hair, Laurie took a deep breath. She couldn't remain out here for too long; she had to find safety. According to her map, she was in the forest surrounding the centre of the island, where the starting building was. By now, that area had most likely become a Danger Zone, or was close to becoming one. Either way, Laurie wasn't going back there now. But here was still rather close, and several students would be nearby. Looking at the map again, Laurie took in the details.

A large section of the middle of the map was purely forest, with beaches surrounding the outer parts of the island. The northern part of the island seemed to be a settlement of sorts, whilst there seemed to be a few luxurious buildings close to the west side. The north-west section of the island was full of steep cliffs and hills, seperating the two housing areas. The main northern settlement arched over the top of the map, stopping at the eastern section. Just near the eastern beach seemed to be a few warehouses, and the clearing at the south-eastern part of the island had several towers that looked over the beach; Laurie recognised them as lookout towers. The south-west section of the island was full of green hills, with a few simple wooden structures. The map was quite detailed, but it unfortunately didn't tell Laurie where anyone was.

Judging from the map, there were quite a few places to hide out, and the closest seemed to be the south-west section. Hopefully, her closest friends, Annabelle, Marianne, Sophie, and Annie, would also be heading in the same direction, so they'd meet up, and survive for longer. She could do that; it wasn't too far, and even if they weren't there, she'd have a hiding place for a while.

Standing up, Laurie took a sip from one of her water bottles. The liquid was cool and refreshing, but she was too tense to fully enjoy it. Still, she managed to down a quarter of the two litre bottle. The humid atmosphere was clearly dehydrating her, and if she wanted to last longer than a day, she would have to manage her water more efficiently. She placed the bottle in her duffel bag, and using her map, took off towards the south-west.

The foliage seemed to get thicker as Laurie followed the faint dirt path. She knew that it was a gamble, being so open, but she had to get there before it was too late; before another, more dangerous, student got there first. Brushing away a leafy branch, Laurie continued forwards, sweat forming on her faintly tanned forehead. She wasn't used to such conditions to be exerting herself in. She glanced at the perfume in her hand, and let out a laugh, despite the horrific nature of everything. Perhaps she could use it to hide the smell of her sweat.

The humour didn't last long, however, and Laurie returned her attention to the path. It was now barely visible, and she felt herself slowly climbing a slight slope. That was a good thing. Heading uphill meant that Laurie was close to where she was heading. Now all she needed was to meet up with a friend, and she'd be good to go.

As if responding to her thoughts, a figure emerged on the top of the hill. From where Laurie was, she could tell that it was a male, with blonde hair. He was wide-eyed, and holding a shotgun. James.

"James!" She cried out, running up to him. They had known each other since they were younger, and they were pretty good friends. Sure, he wasn't a Heart Breaker, but right now, anything would do for company.

As if there was a delay, James remained still, seemingly unaware of Laurie's presence, then looked right at her. But what he didn't know was that his finger was wrapped tightly around the trigger, just waiting to be fired. For a moment, the two stared at one another, James' expression being one of sheer terror, whilst Laurie's expression was quickly becoming confused. Something was off about James; even from here she could tell that his demeanour was not normal. "James?" She said again, this time more questioning than anything else.

"Oh fuck!" James suddenly cried out, twitching, his finger closing in on the trigger.

It happened in less than a second, but to Laurie, it seemed to occur in slow motion. After pressing the trigger, James buckled backwards, and a deafening bang sounded out. A cloud of smoke burst from the barrel, and a bullet shot through the air. Because of the speed of it, there was nothing Laurie could do as the bullet raced towards her. Finally, it made contact with her, driving into her forehead, causing her skull to explode, the force of the impact sending her flying backwards down the hill, rolling and twisting in impossible positions until she slammed into a tree, very much dead.

The bottle of perfume also rolled down the hill, slamming into the tree with enough force to cause it to crack, and the fluid leaked out, mixing with Laurie's blood.

From the top of the hill, James looked on in horror, shaking. He had done that. He had just killed someone. A sob burst out of his mouth that sounded not too different from a wailing cat. Laurie was dead. He had caused it, he had pressed the trigger, he had killed an innocent. He couldn't handle the power of the gun, and had managed to break both promises. James collapsed in a heap on the ground, crying. He looked back at Laurie's corpse, but didn't dare to move towards her.

He had to get away. As far away as possible from the scene, before it began to haunt him. In his mind, James realised how cowardly that sounded. Yeah, some man he was. He wouldn't even do the right thing and own up to his crime. But it would remain ingrained into James' mind forever; he was now a killer, no different than those that appeared on the news every now and then. But it was so easy; all he did was pull a trigger, and Laurie was dead. That quick.

Breathing heavily, James scrambled up the hill, not looking back as he darted past a wooden log cabin, the building completely undisturbed, his footsteps being far too loud for his preference. He ran through the area of wooden buildings, before running down the other side of the hill, the moonlight eerily illuminating the leaves with a silvery glow, vanishing into the forest once more.

* * *

**Laurie (Girl #7)- Eliminated**

Hours remaining: 70

Students remaining: 48


	6. Day 1- 02:00

Lucy (A.K.A Girl #18) looked down at her watch, the moon illuminating it enough for her to see it clearly. It was now 02:00, which meant that two hours had passed since she woke up in that classroom. And just a few minutes ago, a gunshot echoed throughout the forest. Someone had started to play the game. The best case scenario was that it was accidental, or a reflex out of panic, but she had enough experience to know that that wasn't the case. After all, she was the one that had claimed the virginity of the majority of the boys in class L that had experienced sex.

Lifting her hand to wipe the sweat from her spray-tanned forehead, Lucy peered out of the bush she was currently hiding behind. Nothing. Letting out a sigh of relief, Lucy pulled out a bottle of water, and took a couple of delicate sips. The entire island was extremely hot and humid, which meant that she was in serious danger of using up all of her supplies before the game was over. And that would mean being at risk of dying from dehydration. But if all was going to go as planned, then she wouldn't have to even go that long.

Lucy let a smirk slide onto her face as she reached a hand down to the ground. Her slender fingers wrapped around the firm handle, and she brought her randomly assigned weapon up. It was a trident, the kind that she'd seen in that one mermaid movie, made of a dark, solid metal. The three prongs at the end were also extremely sharp; the small cut on her finger was evidence enough. Despite the unconventional nature of the weapon, Lucy was certain that it would work. After all, it was a silent killer, and she'd be able to simply take out another student with a better weapon than herself. Indeed, Lucy was willing to play the game, and play to win. But despite the potential of the trident, there was no way she could win with this weapon alone.

Stretching, Lucy stood up cautiously, looking around. She'd spent the first hour of the game running into the forest, so that she wasn't killed early by another classmate, and had spent the last hour stalking the dense foliage, in search of anyone to kill. That is, until the gunshot fired. The sound of the gun firing was enough incentive to remain hidden for a while, but Lucy guessed that whatever conflict had happened had died down.

Lucy reached down to her duffel bag, and lifted it onto her back, placing the water in there, and held the trident close. She couldn't let her guard down, especially not since she was so out in the open. Anyone could come up here, and just simply shoot her. She couldn't let that happen. Taking one last look around, Lucy began to walk through the trees, a dirt path below a hill to her right. The path seemed tempting, but there was every chance that someone had set up an ambush there; class L was smarter than she gave them credit for.

Continuing through the forest, Lucy continually looked around. Still no sign of anyone. She let out a confused sigh. If the gunshot had been in a fight, then there had only been at least one death. But judging by the amount of time that had passed, there was no way the numbers could have dropped that rapidly. Lucy elegantly hopped over a tree root that protruded through the ground, and continued to walk forwards, scanning every tree for signs of life. She was rewarded with a single bird, flying from a branch into the late night air. But that bird seemed startled; that meant that there had to have been something that had spooked it recently.

This conclusion satisfied Lucy, and a light laugh burst from her lips as she continued onwards. Yeah, she was definitely close to finding someone; she could feel it in her very essence. There was probably someone, a scared person, close by, and they would be too terrified to do anything as Lucy killed them. The thought of that sent a shudder of pleasure down her spine.

"Get the fuck away!" Suddenly, a voice cried out. It sounded close, and Lucy was almost tempted to simultaneously run over there and kill the owner, and yell at them for being so stupid. But she couldn't, since right away, she recognised it as being the voice of her close friend, Beth (A.K.A Girl #22). She didn't need to know the circumstances to know that something was seriously wrong; Beth was one of the strongest girls in class L.

Without a moment's hesitation, Lucy ran into the trees, towards the source of the sound, thoughts swimming throughout her head. What if whoever it was had a powerful weapon? They could easily kill Beth, and then find Lucy. Or what if Beth had decided to fake it, to draw people in, before killing them? There were so many possibilities, but Lucy had to believe that Beth was genuinely in danger of dying.

She pushed past several low hanging branches, her heart pounding in her chest, breathing heavily, determined to find her friend before it was too late for her. Despite her plans to play to win, Lucy couldn't let Beth die prematurely; it would make their friendship worthless. Focusing on the path ahead, Lucy broke through the trees, and ended up in a small clearing. And let out a scream at what she saw.

Beth was backed up against a tree, her red hair messed up, staring in horror at the figure in front of her. Lucy looked at the figure, and gaped in horror and disbelief at who it was. Standing there, with a bottle of paint attached to his belt, and pointing a submachine gun at Beth, was none other than the quiet and reserved Michael (A.K.A Boy #16). He was clumsily handling the gun, and shaking. Chances were that he had lost it from the stress and horrors of the situation, and had found Beth. But Lucy also noticed the paint in his belt, which was probably a randomly assigned weapon. Was it his own? Or did he take it from another he had killed? No, Lucy decided, Michael wouldn't be able to actually take someone down. But his fingers were slowly inching towards the trigger, his mind seeming to race with thoughts and decisions. He was probably trying to decide whether or not to actually go through with this, which gave Lucy some time.

"Beth!" She screeched as loud as possible, causing both students to turn their heads. Beth's face lit up for a moment, before turning grim again. Michael also turned around, and was visibly startled. Normally, he would have just flinched slightly, but he did more than flinch when his hand was wrapped around the trigger of the weapon.

The second Lucy realised this, she threw herself to the floor as a wave of bullets burst from the gun with a deafening sound, flying into the area where she just was. The force of the gun knocked Michael back, and he fell back, hitting the floor. The gun fell out of his hands, but remained attached to the strap around his neck, still being within reach of him. Lucy climbed to her feet, and grabbed her trident, running over to him. There was no other way around it; Michael had to die, or both her and Beth would be gunned down.

But as the weapon was lifted above Michael's throat, Lucy realised something. In her relatively short lifetime, she had done many bad things; drugs; theft; prostitution, but she had never actually taken a life before. She wondered, for just a moment, how hard it would be. Would Michael fight back? Would she miss? If she did kill him, would it affect her for life? All these thoughts swam in Lucy's head as she took a deep breath, and slammed the trident down.

It slammed into the ground, the left and right prongs missing the target. But the middle one pierced Michael's scrawny neck, causing the clean end of the trident to be stained red as blood spurted from his throat. Michael's eyes opened wide, and stared right at Lucy, chilling her very being, and began to kick about. He couldn't make any noise, though, due to the trident in his throat, and his struggle quickly died down. Lucy looked at his pasty face, and saw his deep brown eyes glaze over, his features going slack. His head slumped to the ground, and his body went limp.

She had done it. Lucy had taken a life. She had killed someone. And strangely enough, she didn't feel any of those thoughts she imagined she would. It was actually not much different to swatting a fly, or covering a wasp in insect repellent. There was a last minute struggle, before they died. And the same had just happened with Michael.

"Lucy!" Lucy turned her head, and saw Beth shakily standing up, running over to her. She leapt at the new murderer, and wrapped her arms around her, a single sob escaping her lips. "You just saved my life."

"Don't mention it," Lucy replied nonchalantly, pulling her trident out of the ground with some effort. It finally came loose, and chunks of dirt, and a fountain of blood, flew out from where it was stuck. She then looked over the corpse once more, noticing the gun and the paint. "Hey, where's your weapon?"

"Oh, that one," Beth said, with a tone of irritation, and fear, "I had just pulled out my weapon, which is the gun, and was reading through the instructions that came with it. I'd loaded it, and was about to go out with it, when Michael turned up." She stopped for a moment, motioning at the body, "He asked me if it was a Walther MP submachine gun, and that he knew how to work them. I told him to fuck off, of course, but he stayed, and knocked me to the ground taking the gun. That was when you showed up."

"I see," Lucy said as Beth reached down, and retrieved her gun, "And I don't know if this would be too much to ask of you, but how's about we stick together?" Beth went silent, and her features hardened. She looked to be thinking over it, or so Lucy hoped. Beth then lifted the strap of the gun onto herself, holding the weapon, before nodding. A sly smile grew onto her face, and she stuck her hand out.

"Sure," She said, and Lucy stuck her hand out too as they shook hands, sealing the deal. "But I only have one question."

"Yeah?" Lucy asked, pulling away from the handshake.

"What do we do if it gets to the endgame, and we're the only two left?" Beth questioned shakily, "Since I don't know whether or not we'll be able to kill each other." Actually, Lucy could, but she wouldn't let Beth know that.

"But by the end of this fucking experience, you will." Lucy said darkly, giggling slightly.

"Why?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow, pushing a strand of her red hair from her face.

"Since I propose we play to win."

Beth fell silent, and she pondered the possibility. Should she play to win? It would help her survive, but what if it came down to her and Lucy? But looking from the way Michael fired, and the way Lucy slammed her trident, killing didn't seem to hard.

"Okay then." Beth finally replied, pulling a bottle of water from her bag, drinking from it, before putting it back.

"Awesome," Lucy said in response, before motioning to Michael's corpse, "We should probably get the hell out of here before someone sees us like this, since I think we can use our looks to our advantage here."

"You mean, one of us begins to screw a guy, whilst the other kills him?" Beth asked, and Lucy nodded. A dark smile grew onto her face, "Lucy, you sly bitch." She laughed, and followed Lucy as she left the scene of the crime, moving deeper into the trees. One of the most dangerous teams in the Program had just been formed, and even though they didn't know it, this alliance would change the course of the Summer Season Battle Royale.

* * *

**Michael (Boy #16)- Eliminated**

Hours remaining: 69

Students remaining: 47


End file.
